Being a huge fan of Star Wars, I’ve often gobbled up chances to see and read many forms of entertainment media regarding that galaxy far, far away. The Star Wars Christmas special has eluded me for far too long…being a pre-Empire Strikes back flop, George Lucas has kept the special behind lock and key as much as possible. And rightly so…it was pretty dumb. BUT, it is Star Wars nostalgia and should be seen :) Check out what Wikipedia has for a description of the Holiday Special:

The Star Wars Holiday Special is important for being the first film-length Star Wars story after the original theatrical film, and for showing an expanded look at parts of that universe. The main focus of the holiday special is the Blockade of Kashyyyk. But for the most part, the plot serves as little more than a means to string together a series of musical numbers, celebrity cameos, and other variety-show acts. These include songs and comedy routines by such 1970s talents as Jefferson Starship, Diahann Carroll, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, and Bea Arthur. Easily the most notable segment is an animated cartoon featuring the pre-Empire Strikes Back debut of Boba Fett.

Luckily by digging around on YouTube I’ve managed to compile a series of snippets that form the entire special. For your enjoyment (and duty, if you happen to be a Star Wars fan):

Abbreviated Version (5 mins)

Ok…this is merely an abbreviated version if you don’t want to spend the time…

I’ve never seen this…perhaps I’m a little late. Fine. I’m about a decade too late. Star Wars Episode IV done in complete animated ASCII art. Very cool. Being such a huge Star Wars fan, I’m unsure how this escaped my radar completely but it did until my co-worker Jon received a sweet e-mail telling how to access it which he graciously forwarded to me. w00t!

Instructions:

– Open a telnet window (a windows Command Prompt would do fine)

– type: telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

– watch and enjoy :)

For more sweet Star Wars video action, you should check out the video a bunch of us at work thought of and created: Watto Pr0n!